1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming machine capable of running a common game, and a communication control method therefor.
2. Description of Related Art
There has been known a gaming machine including a plurality of gaming terminals, a terminal controller provided to each gaming terminal and causes the gaming terminal to run a game, a collective control device connected to and in communication with the gaming terminals, and a center controller provided in the collective control device. Such a gaming machine is disclosed, for example, in the specifications of U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,459, U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,709, U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,013, U.S. patent publication No. 2002/0042296, U.S. Pat. No. 6,733,390, U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,872, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,361,441. Each terminal controller independently runs an individual game in the associated gaming terminal, and awards a payout based on the running of the individual game. The center controller determines whether to start a common game commonly run in the plurality of gaming terminals, based on the status of the individual game running in the gaming terminal. Further, the center controller determines the game result of the common game, based on the status of the common game running in the gaming terminal. For example, this common game is a game in which a plurality of players compete against one another to win various types of jackpot such as a progressive jackpot and a mystery jackpot, through a plurality of gaming terminals.
Further, as is disclosed in the specification of U.S. patent publication No. 2009/0005177, a game program (individual game program) used at the time of running the individual game is stored in a storage medium such as CF (CompactFlash®), which is attached to each of the gaming terminals.
The individual game program is loaded from the storage medium to the gaming terminal, and the individual game is run in the gaming terminal, based on the individual game program.
Similarly, a game program (common game program) used at the time of running a common game is also stored in the storage medium such as CF attached to each of the gaming terminals. When the common game program is loaded from the storage medium into the gaming terminal and when the center controller determined to start the common game, the common game is run in each of the gaming terminals, based on the common game program.
However, a game provider (casino owner) is required to change the common game (i.e., common game program) in a short period of time. This is because, for example, players are very much likely to get bored of the common game commonly run in the plurality of gaming terminals.
To change the common game however required exchanging of the storage medium attached to each of the gaming terminals, which is a significant amount of work for the game provider.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a gaming machine which requires a less amount of work for changing a common game which is commonly run in a plurality of gaming terminals, and to provide a communication control method adopted in the gaming machine.